Every Easter WA arrived like that first Cookoo of Spring

It's some time since I last heard the distant call of the Cookoo and Spring is colder and more empty now it's arrival is no longer greeted with that first Wallace Arnold tour trundling through my town. When the new owner's of both did away with WA in favour of Shearings more modern corporate image they denied us of a big chunk of history. After-all with so much changed had you returned in the 90's which other once familiar big coaching name could you have still seen wherever you went in the UK from the more stable pre NBC-PTA Sixties. With about 250 buses and coaches Wallace Arnold I feel was Britain's largest Independent after West Riding, Lancashire United and Barton, operating in Yorkshire but also with depots in London and Devon etc

Old buses for Lancashire United

Stagecoach didn't do very well in North-East Lancashire and sold it's former Ribble and Burnley and Pendle operations to Lancashire United of Blazefield Holdings. The new owners were willing to invest in new vehicles and as part of the deal Stagecoach passed to them a number of elderly buses including Atlanteans, Olympians and as seen here in Blackburn a former Ribble ECW bodied Bristol VR.

Pfeiffer R eisen in Marberg

Once this style of Setra coach and paint-job was commonplace in Germany and although by today's standards rather dated it still looks attractive

Dress to Impress

Rock-Chic-Punk? I'm not quite sure what it is and I'm not sure if she's got it quite right either as the knitted pink wrist-bands don't quite go with the shades, bare tum, studded belt and fishnet. But this is Berlin a city where almost anything goes.

Handyrider in Wolverhampton

In a way it's not such a bad thing that enthusiasts are excluded from bus garages and often made to feel unwelcome to photograph in busy bus stations as there are far more interesting places to take pictures. As you can see out there are not only still the sort of soot coloured churches that might excite L.S.Lowry even the sun shines occasionally in Wolverhampton where still in Rossendale Transport livery a former Handyrider Dennis Dart climbs up into the city centre. As it has a Birmingham registration I think this must be an early Carlyle body as opposed the earliest forty that were Duple Dartline's.

A cold day in Chester

Despite it being quite bright everyone was well wrapped up with warm coats and scarfs in this 1982 view of lovely Chester once home to at least two of Crosville's 100 Seddon RU buses bought as an economy measure like SPG 800 numerically the last. The letter S stood for single, P for bodybuilder Pennine and G for Gardner powered. However as elsewhere they were not a great success and Seddon's entry into the then Leyland dominated bus market never took off despite this big order. As an alternative to the NBC tailored Leyland National some operators like City of Chester instead stuck to the reliable and more straightforward Leopard for it's single deck needs in the mid-Seventies like Duple bodied No.86..

Lancashire United in Wigan

Once Wigan had a fine fleet of Corporation buses and was also served by Ribble and Lancashire United. Shortly after this picture was taken this locally built Northern Counties bodied Daimler Fleetline of the latter would with the rest of the fleet join Wigan's buses in the orange and cream fleet of Greater Manchester. No.499 was working one of the LUT trunk routes to the other end of it's area at Bolton, the 559 having traditionally been the 59

Pity I never got a better one....

I rather liked the bright colours of this Utic bodied Leyland proudly displaying it's Leopard cat badge as it punded the stone sets in Porto.

Sunlight in Manchester

I've always enjoyed the defused light and encroaching shadows when I take photographs against the sun. It's not so easy to do but I like the results for a slightly off-beat view such as this young lady in Manchester with one of Stagecoach's typical local MAN Alexander 200 series single-deckers approaching.

A great combination, but Buses and Girls don't mix

I should know I've photographed quite a number of these, but this combination rarely comes up because it's difficult being at the right place at the right time. However London is full of wonderful women and some of the numerous buses aren't so bad either like AEC Reliance BGY592T seen in the Eighties. By this time the days of the Reliance were numbered and most National Travel deliveries were of Leyland's compatable Leopard which soldiored on for a few more years. However Timpson's one of the NBC constituent fleets had been a keen AEC user and so these much missed coaches continued to be delivered to the Catford base.

Bere Regis and District

The large rural Dorset coach operator Bere Regis and District always ran an interesting mixed fleet and by the 90's exotic vehicles by their standards like this Ikarus bodied Volvo B10M had arrived. It was new to Crawshaw,Mansfield Woodhouse

Dienolen Motors

Probably the most attractive bodywork to appear on the Leyland Tiger Cub in the Fifties was that of Saro (Saunders-Roe) and built not far from here in Bangor over the Menai Bridge on the island of Anglesea. They were supplied mainly to BET Group operators like Trent and East Midland, but as Ribble had the most with about fifty it's appropriate that one of theirs has been preserved. It's a shame this example wasn't also saved as it survived into the Eighties as can be witnessed in this view as it passes a more typical Crosville bus of this area the shorter Leyland NationalB SNL 660.